Who needs friends or hunting dogs when you can take a drone hunting? (Photo: TheOutdoorWire.com)

Guess you’re gonna have to leave your faithful bowhunting companion/UAV home if you plan to be entered into Pope & Young’s record books. Pope & Young was established in 1961 and is a non-profit North American conservation and bowhunting organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of our bowhunting heritage, hunting ethics and wildlife conservation. The Club also maintains the universally recognized repository for the records and statistics on North American big game animals harvested with a bow and arrow.

Apparently some folks out West have employed drones for tracking game animals allowing the hunters to close in more effectively. Places like Alaska have long had rules that prohibit hunting on the same day you fly to prevent this very tactic.

From P&Y:

“Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems (commonly called ‘drones’) are familiar as a military aerial reconnaissance and weapons platform. They are increasingly playing a more popular role in civilian life. UAV’s have high potential to contribute to the fields of wildlife biology, search-and-rescue, agriculture and many other applications. However, use of these highly sophisticated remote-controlled aircraft to scout, monitor and stalk North American big game to aid in bowhunting activities is a fundamental violation of the rules of Fair Chase. The Pope & Young Club believes the use of this technology as a bowhunting aid represents a significant threat to fair chase bowhunting and fair distribution of bowhunting opportunity.

We urge all Pope & Young Club members to refrain from using Drones/UAV’s to locate, monitor, scout or stalk any North American big game species. UAV-assisted bowhunting violates the existing rule that states, ‘you may not use electronic devices for attracting, locating, or pursuing game, or guiding the hunter to such game.’

While the Pope & Young Club acknowledges the potential use of UAV’s for purposes of science and game surveys and even to attain non hunting shots such as scenery, etc. for outdoor television shows, we feel strongly that in order to protect the principles of fair chase and fair opportunity, UAV’s may not be used as a bowhunting aid. We have a responsibility to make sure that bowhunting remains a primitive pursuit involving woodcraft and skill, not merely exploiting technology.”

Well then, I’m on board, though I doubt I’ll be submitting any entries to P&Y anytime soon unless they dramatically lower their standards. Doubt I’ll have a drone either, especially when I have two kids I can force to climb trees for better vantage points.

More about the use of drones will likely hit the news in the coming years. As technology changes, we are always forced to examine how it fits into our sport and the tenets of sportsmanship and fair chase. Once upon a time, the use of treestands was considered unsporting. Within my hunting career, we’ve debated MOJO ducks and trail cameras. Sportsmanship is an uneven concept in most cases anyway. No one bats an eye at the use of unplugged shotguns and electronic calls to combat the snow goose over-population. You’ll have your boat and gun impounded if you try that on mallards, though.

Now I will say, if a drone were to hit the civilian market equipped with laser-guided missles that I could remotely air-strike hog herds with, I’d take out a second mortgage for one of those bad boys. Death From Above!

About This Blog

Ian Nance is a lifelong resident of Central Florida with a passion for hunting and just about anything related. Associate Member of the Florida Outdoor Writers Association. Check back weekly for hunting stories, news, tips, and wild game recipes. Feel free to leave comments or e-mail topics you would like to see addressed here. Contact at inance880@aol.com or follow on Twitter @good_hunt